Welcome to My Monday Minis where I share short reviews about books I’ve read.

For today I’ve got two books about sisters and cousins. Both of these were much anticipated and didn’t disappoint.

Beautiful Broken Girls

by Kim Savage

Genre: YA Mystery

My Review

Mira and her sister, Francesca, never stood a chance. Everyone watches them. Wants to touch them. Wants something from them. That they end up drowned in the quarry, apparently having both committed suicide is such a tragedy. As Ben, the only one who got close to Mira, follows notes left behind by Mira, you too will find out just how tragic their suicide was.

The hardest part about reading this book wasn’t knowing the ending from the start. It was wanting to change it. To save these two sisters. So lost. So….broken. They reached out to me from the pages and I felt so sad for them. As I learned more about their lives, I couldn’t see it ending any other way though.

The writing is compelling. The plot is an intriguing journey you share with the characters. And the ending is surprising and satisfying at the same time.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Remember the places you touched me.

The parts of Mira Cillo that Ben touched are etched on his soul.

Palm. Hair. Chest. Cheek. Lips. Throat. Heart.

It was the last one that broke her. After her death, Mira sends Ben on a quest for notes she left in the seven places where they touched—notes that explain why she and her sister, Francesca, drowned themselves in the quarry. How Ben interprets those notes has everything to do with the way he was touched by a bad coach years before. But the truth behind the girls’ suicides is far more complicated, involving a dangerous infatuation, a deadly miracle, and a crushing lie.

This is a convoluted mystery with dark undertones. Talk about a dysfunctional family. Lane had good reason to run far, far away from her grandparents house, Roanoke. Now, years later she must return to discover what happened to her missing cousin, Allegra. Memories return along with fear and anger. Lane is in danger of losing herself as much as her life.

The whole time I was reading this it felt gothic. It’s not though. I believe it was what was occurring at Roanoke that made it feel that way to me. As I learned the dark history of these people, I squirmed. It wasn’t pretty.

Lane was my hero. When it looked like she might get lost in the past, she shook herself off and took care of business. I had all kinds of feels for her situation.

Where the author’s story really shines is with her characters. They’re authentic. You don’t have to like them. In fact, some you’ll loathe. But they’re well fleshed out and their stories will suck you in.

Looking for something to get lost in for a few hours? Grab this one. You’ll not want to stop once you start

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.

After her mother’s suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother’s mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.